Equity Funds Suffer Record Outflows in March

That topped the previous record monthly net withdrawal
set in August 1998. More ominously, it was the first
back-to-back monthly net withdrawal from stock funds since
August and September 1990- when Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
spooked investors- according to the mutual fund tracking
firm.

March’s outflow comes on top of an outflow of $2.4
billion from stock funds in February, according to Lipper’s
data.

Put In Perspective

In October 1987, the net monthly outflow from U.S.-based
stock funds was around $8 billion, roughly equal to 5% of
fund assets at the time. However, with $3.7 trillion now
invested in US stock funds, March’s withdrawal constitutes
just 0.4% of assets.

Money market funds also suffered a net outflow of
roughly $4 billion, according to Lipper.

Among US equity categories,

Large cap funds lost $7.1 billion

Multicap funds lost $1.2 billion

Small cap funds gained $800 million

Global equity funds suffered a net outflow of $4.4
billion in March.

On the other hand, bond funds experienced their third
straight month on net inflows, gaining an estimated $6.2
billion during March according to CBSMarketWatch. The
consecutive monthly inflows followed 18 consecutive months
of outflows.